Cafeteria Confessions
by tellingmelies
Summary: Iron Pen Twilight Challenge entry. 30 min to write. A conversation in a cafeteria leds to unknown confessions.


**AN: This os was written for the Iron Pen Twilight Challenge. Basically, write a OS in 30 minutes and be sure to use the secret ingredient, which in this case was the phrase "the bases are loaded". So this is my OS, unbeta'd and written in 30 minutes :)**

**Oh and I of course don't own**

**~oOo~**

**Cafeteria Confessions**

Bella stormed into the cafeteria, her eyes scanning the room. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Edward sitting at their usual table in the back. Quickly grabbing an apple and a bag of chips, she moved through the crowd and plopped unceremoniously in front of him with a big 'humph'.

"Bad day?" Edward asked, grinning up at his best friend.

Bella gave him a pointed look. "You have no idea."

She fidgeted with her bag of chips, pulling at the seams until the top split apart and scattered chips all over the table. With a groan, she dropped her head onto her backpack.

"Just kill me now."

Edward couldn't help but laugh. He knew it was mean to find humor in something that was torturing Bella, but this had always been the way of their friendship. Besides, if it had been anything serious, his reaction would have been completely different. Brushing some of the chips out of the way, Edward reached across the table and patted the back of Bella's head.

"Tell me what happened," he said in his best parenting tone.

She looked up, resting her chin on her blue bag. "Mike asked me to the dance."

Edward bit his lip to try to keep from laughing. "Again?" Bella nodded. "This was what? The fourth time he's asked?"

"Fifth." Bella sat up, wiping chips crumbs off of her apple.

"Man, he just doesn't know when to give up." Edward shook his head and leaned back. "What did you say?"

"What do you mean, what did I say? I said no, like I said every other time."

Edward laughed. "I gotta hand it to him, he's persistent. Did he give you flowers again?"  
Bella shook her head. "No, thank god." She slammed the apple down on the table, staring directly at Edward. "He called me Bells." Edward cringed, knowing how much Bella hated to be called by her childhood nickname. "Get this. He struts up to me in the hallway, throws his arm around me and goes, 'Ok Bells. It's the seventh inning. The bases are loaded and everyone is looking for you to knock one out of the park. I step into the pitcher's mound, wind up, deliver my request that you accompany me to the fall formal, and you…' and then he just stared at me, grinning like an idiot."

Edward was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his face. "The bases are loaded? Knock one out of the park?" He slapped his hand on the table as Bella sat there unamused. "Wow, he really takes his baseball seriously."

Bella threw a chip at him and crossed her arms. "I'm glad you find this funny."

Edward grinned, his green eyes positively sparkling. "So, did you? Did you hit a homerun?"

"I hit a foul ball directly into his groin."

Edward roared with laughter, having no doubt that Bella did just that. It was one of the things that he loved about her. She was a no-nonsense kind of girl and didn't take shit from anyone.

Growing up without a mother, Bella only had her father to look up to. From an early age, Bella surrounded herself with friends who were boys, feeling more comfortable with them than those of her own sex. That was how she met Edward. When they were both eight, they were on the same co-ed Little League team, with none other than Mike Newton, of course. Even though it was a co-ed team, Bella was the only girl who had signed up and the only person who really understood the game of baseball, thanks to her father. Edward, having no idea what he was doing because he hated sports, instantly attached himself to Bella, learning all he could from her. They instantly became friends – camp outs in each other's back yards, reading together in Bella's hammock, everything. Bella loved that she could watch some sporting event with Edward, then turn around and go shopping with him just as easily. And she couldn't forget their love of cheesy chick flicks.

Bella took a bite of her apple, watching Edward try to get his laughter under control. As she watched him, she took notice of all the girls around staring at him. This had begun to happen more and more lately, and Bella knew why. Over the years, Edward had grown from this wiry little beanpole to this Abercrombie model. Many didn't think she had noticed, but she did and that made her sad, knowing that they could never be together that way. Bella sighed without even realizing it.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked, instantly aware of the change in her.  
"I just wish.."

"What?"

She shook her head. "It's stupid."

"Bella, nothing you want to say is stupid."

Bella looked into her best friend's eyes and saw the worried look her was giving her.

Suddenly, she couldn't stop herself.

"I wish you weren't gay!"

Edward blinked in surprise at her outburst.

"I mean, it's cool that you are. And I totally support you in that and all, but sometimes, like now, when you're sitting there staring at me like that, I just wish that, I don't know…I wish you would take me to the dance as more than a friend…" she trailed off, dropping her head on her bag once more.

"Bella?" A muffled 'hmm' was all he got in reply. "Bella, I'm not gay."

Bella turned her head to the side. "Yes, you are. Don't even try to deny it. It's useless on me."

"Bella!" He grabbed her hand, pulling her arm so she would look at him. "I'm not gay!"

Bella's eyes went wide. "But you like chick flicks."

Edward rolled his eyes. "So?"

"And your fashion sense in incredible and you know nothing about sports," Bella pointed out, trying to prove to him that he was in fact gay.

"I was raised in a household full of women, Bella. I'm in touch with my feminine side," he said grinning.

"Don't make fun of me." Bella was blushing now. Blushing because she realized that she'd built up this scenario in her head, and she had just revealed how she felt about him.

"Bella, in the 10 years that you've known me, you never thought to ask me?"

"You've never had a girlfriend," Bella replied, meekly.

Edward shrugged. "Because there was only one person I was interested in, and she apparently thought I was gay."

Bella gaped at him. He couldn't possibly mean her.

"Bella," he looked at her, his eyes soft. "It's only ever been you."

She couldn't help it, she was a whole new shade of crimson now.

"Will you go to the dance with me, as more than a friend?" Edward's eyes twinkled mischievously. "What do you say? It's the seventh inning, the bases are loaded…" 


End file.
